[Buschmaster]

What is the typical situation as far as warranty on a refurb?

If I could get a refurb K20D with any type of warranty at all for under $500 that seems like an outstanding deal.

[CWyatt]

Currently I'm shooting a Pentax K110D so any of the current bodies will feel like a giant upgrade, and I'll likely sell the K110D to a friend along with a lens (Maybe the kit lens and pick up the 16-50?)

... It seems to me that the K-x may handle high ISO better which to me would be a GIANT plus.

Personally I would be upgrading from the kit lens before being too worried about high ISO.

Although the K-x has some pretty impressive ISO capabilities, I would go for the K20D. It's a robust camera, and was a 'flagship' DSLR for Pentax for many reasons. The frames per second etc may be slightly lower, but it's a real higher-end DSLR with more features, and provides for more user-ability than the K-x seems t do, based on what I've read.

I agree with the other posters, K20D's can be had for a real bargain price, and spend any other available dollar on glass. A K20D/K-x with a kit lens might not provide the kind of improvement over a K110D with a kit lens you've been hoping for.

[Buschmaster]

But a K20D + 16-50mm DA* is a significant upgrade from a K110D + 18-55mm DA.

I will be keeping any eye out for those $499 refurb deals.

[buster110]

In the last 4 weeks the cost of the K20d has gone up on the average of $150 used - $250 new! Cause: Walmart. Walmart was selling the k20d for $550ish with Amazon and a few others following close behind. This caused a lot of used sellers to reduce their prices, which meant they were selling for $500ish or less. Now, no such luck. Walmart has sold their last k20d and soon everyone's prices have skyrocketed due to a still high demand and limited "new" quantity.

How do I know all of this. First, I was one poster late on this forum from getting a K20d for $475 four weeks ago, then $525 hours later... Two days later I waited about three hours too late to buy the last one from Walmart, then my still filled Amazon shopping cart increased from $565 to $635 in the same time span, while waiting approval from the Mrs.! "Don't worry you'll find another one" was quickly said as I kicked and screamed for not buying it without approval three hours before. The following days, I couldn't bring myself to buy the few used $550 cameras after having a new one fall through my fingers for the same price. Now weeks later, after going through the same daily routine for looking for a new or used k20d, I lost a bid two days ago for a very questionable ebay "new in box" in the last seconds at $570... So far $635 seems to be the lowest I can find new and used seems to be going up higher and higher by the minute.

My point. I'm hopeful the K-X will come to market and decrease the demand somewhat for the K20D, which I feel is clearly a better "Photographers" camera. The KX is tempting with the video and nice K-7 features, but I personally think the K20 is the better choice for a long term relationship.

I saw the K-7 for $990 today. First time under a grand. Still too high for my pocketbook by a good amount. So the istDs labors on and on and on....

[Buschmaster]

In the last 4 weeks the cost of the K20d has gone up on the average of $150 used - $250 new! Cause: Walmart. Walmart was selling the k20d for $550ish with Amazon and a few others following close behind. This caused a lot of used sellers to reduce their prices, which meant they were selling for $500ish or less. Now, no such luck. Walmart has sold their last k20d and soon everyone's prices have skyrocketed due to a still high demand and limited "new" quantity.

How do I know all of this. First, I was one poster late on this forum from getting a K20d for $475 four weeks ago, then $525 hours later... Two days later I waited about three hours too late to buy the last one from Walmart, then my still filled Amazon shopping cart increased from $565 to $635 in the same time span, while waiting approval from the Mrs.! "Don't worry you'll find another one" was quickly said as I kicked and screamed for not buying it without approval three hours before. The following days, I couldn't bring myself to buy the few used $550 cameras after having a new one fall through my fingers for the same price. Now weeks later, after going through the same daily routine for looking for a new or used k20d, I lost a bid two days ago for a very questionable ebay "new in box" in the last seconds at $570... So far $635 seems to be the lowest I can find new and used seems to be going up higher and higher by the minute.

My point. I'm hopeful the K-X will come to market and decrease the demand somewhat for the K20D, which I feel is clearly a better "Photographers" camera. The KX is tempting with the video and nice K-7 features, but I personally think the K20 is the better choice for a long term relationship.

I saw the K-7 for $990 today. First time under a grand. Still too high for my pocketbook by a good amount. So the istDs labors on and on and on....

Maybe I should just snag a K200D as long as its cheap then.

[buster110]

B&H has a used K200 for $369...I've been tempted to hold me over until I could afford a k-7, but alas the quest continues for a k20d.

Used SLR Digital Cameras

[p0opstlnksal0t]

In the last 4 weeks the cost of the K20d has gone up on the average of $150 used - $250 new! Cause: Walmart. Walmart was selling the k20d for $550ish with Amazon and a few others following close behind. This caused a lot of used sellers to reduce their prices, which meant they were selling for $500ish or less. Now, no such luck. Walmart has sold their last k20d and soon everyone's prices have skyrocketed due to a still high demand and limited "new" quantity.

How do I know all of this. First, I was one poster late on this forum from getting a K20d for $475 four weeks ago, then $525 hours later... Two days later I waited about three hours too late to buy the last one from Walmart, then my still filled Amazon shopping cart increased from $565 to $635 in the same time span, while waiting approval from the Mrs.! "Don't worry you'll find another one" was quickly said as I kicked and screamed for not buying it without approval three hours before. The following days, I couldn't bring myself to buy the few used $550 cameras after having a new one fall through my fingers for the same price. Now weeks later, after going through the same daily routine for looking for a new or used k20d, I lost a bid two days ago for a very questionable ebay "new in box" in the last seconds at $570... So far $635 seems to be the lowest I can find new and used seems to be going up higher and higher by the minute.

My point. I'm hopeful the K-X will come to market and decrease the demand somewhat for the K20D, which I feel is clearly a better "Photographers" camera. The KX is tempting with the video and nice K-7 features, but I personally think the K20 is the better choice for a long term relationship.

I saw the K-7 for $990 today. First time under a grand. Still too high for my pocketbook by a good amount. So the istDs labors on and on and on....

Same here, hard pressed to find a used body only for under 550-600... looks like that k-x is looking more reasonable

[Buschmaster]

Same here, hard pressed to find a used body only for under 550-600... looks like that k-x is looking more reasonable

So you're saying when they're similarly priced the K-x looks like the better camera?

[p0opstlnksal0t]

ive pretty much made up my mind in favor of the k-x... Ive seen prolly 10-15 online high iso comparisons, and from what ive seen im fairly sold. especially since i can get a bnib body only k-x with 1 year warranty for 550.00 vs. a used non warrantied k20d for the same or more... the weather sealed body is a big minus though, but not enough to make up for the high iso performance ive seen out of it

[Buschmaster]

ive pretty much made up my mind in favor of the k-x... Ive seen prolly 10-15 online high iso comparisons, and from what ive seen im fairly sold. especially since i can get a bnib body only k-x with 1 year warranty for 550.00 vs. a used non warrantied k20d for the same or more... the weather sealed body is a big minus though, but not enough to make up for the high iso performance ive seen out of it

I thought the whole discussion in this thread was that ISO was never that different?

Who do I trust?!

[p0opstlnksal0t]

from what ive seen without getting all technical, lol... they are far improved on the k-x

[p0opstlnksal0t]

heres a good read:
K-x measurebation [Page 2]: Pentax SLR Talk Forum: Digital Photography Review

[Marc Sabatella]

These things are all relative. No doubt the K-x beats the other. The guy who is kind of the guru of noise measurements in Pentax-land - GordonBGodd, concluded the K-x is, in his words from the thread mentioned above, "the very best high ISO performance of any camera Pentax has produced to date". Sounds great, and it *is* great. But just a few post laters, he says there are "these differences are real but given our human logarithmic response, not so dramatic as one would imagine from just the numbers".

Which is to say, if you're in the business of looking at images at 100% and running statistical analysis on the RAW data, as GordonBGood is, you'll be able to see and measure an improvement. The question remains, how important is this in the *real* world, where we normally shrink our pictures down consideably so they fit on our computer screens, and print them at sizes and view them from distances such that these differences will be barely if at all visible.

[chedoy]

If the K20D wasn't the battleship of the Pentax fleet, I would have been all over a $500 sepcials, refurbs or not, but it's more weight than I want to carry. The original poster did have this as a criteria.

[Eruditass]

If the K20D wasn't the battleship of the Pentax fleet, I would have been all over a $500 sepcials, refurbs or not, but it's more weight than I want to carry. The original poster did have this as a criteria.

Another reason I picked the entry level. That + menu & button layout + batteries is why.

Now.. white K-x - I wanted you for this weekend. Now that I won't have you this weekend, I might as well wait for the other colors and people to post pics with non-kit lenses. And then I might as well wait for black friday and hope to get some kind of deal.

edit:



hmm... if it wasn't for that red reflection, I might actually be able to judge it.